Finally a perfect phone
I had the original Pixel XL and waited for Pixel XL 3. When it finally came out, I was disappointed. No battery life improvement (in fact, it dropped down from Pixel XL 2 according to reviews), and there is that obnoxious notch, even a double notch sometimes.
So I went ahead to get a used Pixel XL 2 instead.
I'm very satisfied. The original Pixel XL was already a great phone. But Pixel XL 2 is about perfect.
To me, besides the Pixel line, there is no other option anyway.
Reason 1: With Gogle Fi which provides the first and only global network service, the Pixel is really the only global phone. Just travel to another country with an Android phone on Google Fi, and you will understand what I mean by this.
Reason 2: I don't want an Apple. And I don't want any third-party renditions of Android either, including Samsung and Huawei, because although they make great hardware, they always manage to damage the true Android experience, both in the user interface and the speed and availability of updates.
The only problems I had with the original Pixel XL was that (1) I was running out of storage on the 32 GB; (2) I was desiring a little bit better battery life so it would be able to run through a busy day reliably and comfortably.
Better battery life is always desirable. The original Pixel XL had difficulties to last a whole day of heavy use. Even though it is fine 95% of time, just an occasional occurrence of out-of-battery at the end of day is painful enough. As one would be habitually recharging the phone at end of day anyway, at least a whole-day battery life is critically important.
Pixel XL 2 solved both problems.
In addition, it also has a few nice features that the original Pixel did not have:
(1) it has eSIM and can be activated without a physical SIM if you're using Google's Fi network. You can actually insert a physical SIM of an alternative network, but I found that switching back and forth is almost impractical, although possible. Every time when you switch to the physical SIM network, returning back to eSIM would require you to reactivate with Google. Sure reactivation was quite simple, involving just a few clicks, but still it is far from being seamless, and you shouldn't mistake this as a dual-SIM phone.
(2) Carriers like Verizon have stopped locking Pixel 2 phones. So you can safely buy a used Verizon Pixel 2 without worrying about being locked on Verizon. The phone will be always activatable on Google Fi, even if you don't have an Fi SIM (see above).
(3) The always-on standby screen display is improved, and now not only shows a clock, date, and temperature, but also battery status. There is very little battery draw on the standby screen.
To me, this is the perfect phone, and for the first time I believe I may not need a replacement for a few years.
In the past, annual replacement, or even midyear replacement had to be made due to lack of satisfaction of the phone performance.
Now with Pixel XL 2, if it isn't good for five years, at least I'm expecting three years, which is reasonable.
I feel mobile phones as a product evolution have got to a point like what PCs became around 2010. Pixel XL 2 is the proof.
Before year 2010, desktop computers were always lacking in some serious aspects, making frequent upgrades necessary. But after year 2010, a well-speced PC could provide a minimum of five years of satisfactory service, and if you're not too picky, perhaps 10 years.
Product lifecycle is a big issue. Upgrading a PC or a mobile phone is an extremely costly experience, not just because of the direct costs, but more importantly the time cost. For someone who is choosy on the configurations of PC or phone, switching to a new device is extremely time-consuming. In my own experience, every time when I got a new PC, it would cumulatively cost me a minimum of 20 hours to set everything up to meet my particular requirements. This is mostly system, desktop environment and software configuration. A lot of tweaking is necessary on a new PC.
Fortunately, Android has made switching to a new phone a lot easier than switching to a new PC. Most of the switch including app installation, data transfer, and system configuration are made automatic.
But not everything, especially when you use many apps that require personalized settings and data configuration. So still, it would take several hours to get everything right.
I'm hoping to hold onto the Pixel XL 2 for at least a few years.
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